In my last post, I talked about desktop roadmaps for AMD and Intel; this time I'd like to look at the mobile roadmaps. 2010 is shaping up to be an interesting year for laptop computers, but in some ways, it's just a stopgap until even bigger changes come the following year.
On the processor front, the big news will probably come early next year, when Intel will introduce its "Arrandale" chip, the mobile version of the dual core 32nm Westmere line. This chip will have two cores, but with support for hyperthreading, it will support four threads. This is part of the company's "Calpella" platform (based on its 5-series chipset). Arrandale may come out under different brand names (Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7), with the differentiation due to support for turbo boost and the amount of cache available on each chip.
One big change with this chip is that it will include both a 32nm processor die and a 45nm graphics die on the same chip, as Intel integrates more features. Since the bulk of laptops use integrated graphics, it will be very interesting to see how this performs compared with AMD's existing integrated graphics, which have typically been faster than Intel's equivalent.
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On the higher end, the company recently introduced the quad-core (eight-thread) "Clarksfield" chip, which is sold under the Core i7 brand. It is also part of the "Calpella" platform.
You will probably still see a number of Core 2 Duo notebooks (based on the older "Santa Rosa" and "Montevina" platforms) on the market for some time, as well as machines using the Pentium and Celeron brand, which are mostly older designs with less cache, and sometimes a single core instead of two. Within this group, some processors are marked as "ultra-low voltage," which means they generally use less energy and so have slower clock speeds but better battery life. The bulk of this line has recently moved from single-core to dual-core processors, and it's likely we'll see the "Arrandale" chips move into this segment later in the year.
And of course, Atom will be the entry for netbooks, which has become a very large part of the market. Intel is planning on replacing its existing "Diamondville" version of Atom with a new processor called "Pineview" (on a platform it calls "PineTrail") early next year.
Within AMD's line, the big change will be the introduction of quad-core mobile processors and a new integrated graphics chipset that is DirectX 10.1-capable as part of its "Danube" platform, due out in the first half of 2010. The 45nm processor, which should be available in both dual- and quad-core versions, carries the code name "Champlain" but will likely get an official name in the Turion family. AMD is downplaying processor names in favor of its "Vision" platform (with Vision on the low end, Vision Premium for higher-end integrated graphics; and Vision Ultimate for machines with discrete graphics). AMD plans a version of its Direct X 11 discrete graphics for this market as well, which could be a very strong platform for gamers and others who need that level of graphics.
AMD is also planning a new version of its products for the "ultrathin" market in the first half of 2010, with a dual-core 45nm chip known as "Geneva." This will be part of the company's "Nile" platform and is aimed between the netbook segment and mainstream notebooks, with better battery life than a traditional notebook but more performance than a typical netbook (including a discrete graphics option, which seems unusual in this category).
All these products are interesting, but 2011 is when the architecture really changes, with processor cores and graphics cores coming together to form a single die from both companies. AMD has talked more about its strategy, planning for a platform called "Sabine" with a new quad-core "accelerated processing unit" codenamed "Llano" for mainstream notebooks; and a platform called "Brazos" with a new APU, "Ontario," that uses a new core called "Bobcat," designed for lower performance and longer battery life. Intel, too, is talking about combining graphics and processing on a single 32nm die in that time frame, but it hasn't shared many details yet.
I'm not sure yet whether a typical user will particularly care whether integrated graphics are on a chipset (as in most of today's mainstream notebooks); bundled with the CPU die into a single chip, as in Intel's Arrandale platform; or actually placed into a single die with the CPU, as both AMD and Intel plan for 2011. What matters is performance and reliability. Gamers and others who need high-end graphics will continue to choose discrete graphics, but the hope is that tighter integration will yield to better performance for video playback; light-duty video editing and encoding; web browsing; and light-to-medium-duty gaming. Of course, the proof will be in the platforms, and I'll be looking to see these.Next up, server platforms.
